Just a quick note to introduce myself to the forum. I've been running Linux systems for the past twenty-odd years, but for the past few years I've become increasingly dissatisfied with the direction Linux has taken, and some of the choices the OS has made (systemd), at least with the distros I've used (Debian mostly).

So a couple of months ago I decided to install OpenBSD on an old Thinkpad T400. The installation was a charm: I had a basic but fully functional system up and running within the hour. OpenBSD is such an elegant operating system. I am now going to replace my other Linux machines, and convert to BSD.

Now I ask myself why I didn't adopt BSD earlier. I suspect it's the fact that Linux worked well enough for most things, together with the misguided belief that OpenBSD would be difficult to install and use. In fact, the opposite is proving itself to be true, due in no small part to the excellent documentation.

Just a quick note to introduce myself to the forum. I've been running Linux systems for the past twenty-odd years, but for the past few years I've become increasingly dissatisfied with the direction Linux has taken, and some of the choices the OS has made (systemd), at least with the distros I've used (Debian mostly).

Your story has some similaries to mine. Shortly after I started using Linux I did some research into BSD and was greatly intrigued, but Linux worked well so I left BSD alone as something to perhaps try later. Then with experience my knowledge about using Linux increased over time. Thus, I became very comfortable with it and had no desire to learn another system. Although I did keep track of what was happening in the BSD camp, because I found the design and philosophy very interesting. Shortly before systemd became a debate issue I noticed the direction Linux development was heading and did not like it. (Systemd is not the problem. It is a small symptom of a big problem. I shall not elaborate on my feelings, because I do not want to engage in Linux bashing.) So I finally decided to give BSD a whirl and have not looked back. At the time found myself asking the same question you are.

Welcome to our forum! I started using the BSDs with FreeBSD 5.x and OpenBSD at 5.0. I started using Linux in 2002, running Caldera OpenLinux 2.3. I started using Slackware in 2004, version 10.0. I managed to avoid systemd as Slackware is still systemd free.